Tuesday, December 2, 2014

"Exaggeration...Is Funny"

As comedy continues to evolve – for some people to a point where
it has stopped being funny which, for them at least, is an “Evolving” Too Far”
– in certain ways, it remains noteworthily the same.

He said, setting up today’s blog post.

I was thinking about “exaggeration”, a comedy stand-by,
though you have to be careful with the recipe, making certain not to exaggerate
too much.I used to be famous for
responding to an unsuccessful joke pitch (including my own) by saying,

“Too much gunpowder.”

“Too much gunpowder” means that the joke is funny, but its
over-exaggerated formulation has taken it beyond funny into wincing incredulity.An over-exaggerated joke is inevitably
rewritten, or not included in the script.

Consider, as an example of “just enough” exaggeration, a
scene some people consider to be the funniest sequence in Taxi.

“Drug-induced burnout” Reverend Jim is taking his written
Driver’s Test.He gets stuck on an
answer.He goes “Psst” to his buddies
who are standing nearby and he says,

“What does a Yellow Light mean?”

To which one of his buddies responds,

“Slow down.”

Jim says, “Okay.”He then
proceeds to repeat the question, only this time, more slowly.There’s a big laugh from the studio
audience.Jim is again told “Slow
down.”He then asks the question a third
time, but now, even more slowly than
the second time (earning a bigger laugh from the audience.)Then, after the third “Slow down”, Jim asks
“What does a Yellow Light Mean?” a fourth time, as slowly as a person can
possibly speak while still being able to be understood.The audience is screaming, and peeing in its
pants.(Though hopefully not literally.)

And that was it.

But what if that wasn’t
it?The question being, “How many times
can you go to that same comedic well before the joke wears out its welcome and
becomes tedious?

There are two possible ways of determining that:

“Trial and error” in rehearsal – you repeat the sequence until
it becomes less funny rather than more funny.Or “comedic feel”, in which
your instincts instruct you when to move on. In the Taxi
case, given the gifted writers involved, I am pretty sure it was the
latter.Using yourself as a barometer,
you sense when the “fun’s over” – or more specifically at its peak – and that’s
precisely where you end it.

Conclusion:“Exaggeration”
is virtually “sure-fire funny.”But, as
I explained to my four year-old daughter when I was teaching her to pour milk
into a glass:

“The trick is to know when to stop.”

Though sometimes, in comedy’s earlier years, the joke was actually
ignoring when to stop.

1930’s radio comedian Jack Pearl played the character “Baron
Munchausen”, whose stock-in-trade was the hyper-exaggerated anecdote.In a clip I saw recently on YouTube, the “Baron” brags about diving
under the sea and hauling up eighty tons of sponges in one dive.

The man listening this story says, “That’s
preposterous.Nobody can bring up eighty
tons in one dive.It’s impossible.”

To which Pearl replies, with his signature “catch-phrase”:

“Vas you dere, Charlie?”

In this case, the exaggeration itself is the joke.Heightened by the exaggerator standing adamantly behind it when he’s
challenged.

Today, that sounds like “old vaudeville shtick” but there is
evidence that the “straight-faced exaggerator” format still worked well into the
1960’s, where it was popularized by a comedian named Timmie Rogers, albeit but
with his own inimitable spin.

Rogers would tell a transparent “whopper”, and then leaving
after a beat for audience to take it in, he would open his eyes wide and say,

“Oh YEAH!!!”

During a routine he performs about how he doesn’t have a dime
to his name, Rogers proclaims,

“You see this suit?Three years old.You see these
pockets?Brand new.”

The audience laughs solidly.But then, a beat later, when he shouts,

“Oh, YEAH!!!”

The laugh literally doubles.

Thirty years later and the “Munchausen” formula continued to
prevail – an incredulous statement followed by an indignant, “And I am not
backing down!”

Overall, it seems to me, comedy advances in the direction of
reality.I’m not sure even that Taxi sequence would be successful today,
the victim of a simple “Reality Test.”

“Why didn’t they just say, ‘A Yellow Light means ‘Slow
down’?”

“Because it would ruin the ‘funny’.”

“That’s not funny.That’s stupid.”

Actually, it’s both.And within the parameters of Reverend Jim’s character.(Though not necessarily within the other characters’ parameters.)Today, unless they are offered certifiably
stupid movies – as with the “Dumber and Dumber” franchise – the audience
believes they are too 21st Century hip and cool to fall for such
shenanigans.

But that does not mean, “Exaggeration is Dead.”Ever sensitive to changing fashions, comedy
writers have simply slipped onto the opposite foot.

Imagined But Not Out Of The Question Movie Sequence:

A “Dressed For Success” businessman walks purposefully down
the street, sporting an expensive suit and tie, top-of-the-line Italian shoes, a
“designer” briefcase and a red, Styrofoam clown nose of his face.(Exaggerating his “standing out from the
crowd.”)

Passing him, a woman – who will end up marrying him – shoots
him a look of ironic incredulity and goes,

“Seriously?”

AKA”:“Really?”

Exaggeration LIVES!

But now, the exaggeration serves as the setup, paid off by
the verbalized certification that “We Cool Kids are officially ‘Not buyin’ it.’”

“Seriously?”

Yup.

“No, I mean that’s the best example you could come up with?”

Ha.

Let me now leave you with a little “do-at-home” Longevity Test:

Tell me:Does this
still work comedically?

No readers over fifty need reply.If you are above the line, show it to someone
who isn’t, and let me know what they
think.

5 comments:

To me, the second time he goes into the question is funny, but the third falls flat (though the contemporary audience clearly reacts well). Some sort of unexpected twist on the third time would have been good, otherwise I don't think it gets funnier with repetition.

Still funny to me! Rev. Jim seldom had to speak, he was hilarious via his facial expressions and body movements.

Speaking of exaggeration, in the early morning hours I saw most of Bob Hope's "Road to Hong Kong," the last of his Road movies. Was made in '62 so he and Bing were 59-ish and co-star Joan Collins was very lovely @ 29. And I think, she's probably the only member of that cast that's still living - and still working, too.

The studio audience likely laughed much harder than the home audience by the fourth one.

What stands out is the incredible acting. Taxi had some seasoned actors, Lloyd, Judd Hirsch and Danny Devito, who had tons of stage and film experience. Most of the comedies today, with the incredibly young casts, don't have that. Also, doing a show in front of an audience gives the actors a ton of energy...which you don't find on single camera.